1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to soap receptacles and in particular to soap receptacles for minimizing or preventing water erosion of soap and the resulting residue.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Traditional soap receptacles are generally simple constructions formed of ceramic, glass, or other water impervious material. There are a myriad of designs of such soap receptacles incorporating different shapes and ornamental surface treatment. Soap receptacles share a common limitation in that their water impervious material tends to collect and retain moisture from soap which is returned to the receptacle wet after it has been used. The soap erodes as it rests in the associated water and it leaves an unsightly residue on the soap receptacle which tends to build up after repeated use.
This problem has been long recognized and the prior art contains a variety of means for attempting to deal with it. One technique is to provide a perforated metal surface upon which the soap rests, permitting moisture to drop through and the soap to dry by means of air circulation, as evidenced in Evans U.S. Pat. No. 3,019,549, but that requires the construction of a relatively complex structure which takes up room and is expensive. It also is less than perfect because of the direct contact between the soap and the receptacle surface between the openings. Another type of solution is an open mesh bag, as in Pierce U.S. Pat. No. 2,457,918, but that requires a rigid structure for suspending the bag which must be fixed into an adjacent wall surface or the like. Still another device is the formation of a floating soap receptacle from rigid foam polystyrene with a drain opening as in Altstadter U.S. Pat. No. 2,722,719, but that is limited in its usefulness to floating on water and is relatively complex and expensive to make. Another, relatively common, approach is to make the soap receptacle of sponge or sponge rubber which absorbs the water from the soap, as shown in Charity U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,546, Vernet U.S. Pat. No. 1,756,713 and Vernet U.S. Pat. No. 1,659,644, but that retains the moisture derived from the soap within the sponge structure, which requires that the soap be removed and the sponge compressed in order to remove it.
The present invention provides a soap receptacle which is rigid in structure like the traditional ceramic soap receptacles, but which is provided with water-absorbent textile material above the rigid base of the receptacle.
The soap receptacle of the invention is relative simple and inexpensive and easy to make in comparison to all prior such articles.
The soap receptacle of the invention consists in a pile textile fabric, formed in a dish-shaped receptacle, and impregnated on the back with a stiffener material, dried to rigidity to cause the fabric to retain the dish shape.
A principal object of the invention is to provide a self-drying soap receptacle.
A further object of the invention is to provide a self-drying soap receptacle which is of relatively simple construction and easy to make.
A further object of the invention is to provide a self-drying soap receptacle which can be produced in a vast number of different shapes.
A further object of the invention is to provide a self-drying soap receptacle which may be readily provided with surface ornamentation.
A further object of the invention is to provide a self-drying soap receptacle that can be produced in virtually any color or pattern.